


The Mess He Made

by lasairfhiona



Series: It's a Mess [1]
Category: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-06
Updated: 2011-10-06
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:46:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>not a warm fluffy story...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mess He Made

'Everything is a mess,' Harry thought as he walked into the penthouse, dropping his keys in the dish that sat on the foyer table more out of habit than anything else. He figured if he left them there he wouldn't have to go searching for them when he needed them in a hurry.

He walked into the perfectly decorated living room, adorned with antiques that once resided in his childhood home in Boston. He hardly saw it anymore. It just didn't matter any longer. Why should it? I didn't feel like *home* anymore and now was just a place to eat and try to sleep.

As he crossed the living room, his footfall silent in the thick plush carpet, he stood in front of the table with the crystal decanters filled with aged scotch and bourbon. While the amber liquid filled the glass in his hand, he pondered his life. He'd achieved more than an ordinary man could in ten lifetimes. He wore four stars on his shoulders. He advised Presidents. He had a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in marine biology. He had the Institute, his own submarine and the ability to do the research he wanted to do. But with everything he had and achieved he was alone and probably more weary than he'd ever been in his life.

Besides the sister he loved dearly, the other person who held his heart currently wasn't talking to him. He'd alienated them both just as he alienated most of his friends, in the time since he almost single-handedly turned his life upside down. He'd come home from Washington to find half the drawers in the dressers empty, as was half of the closet, and the cabinet in the bathroom. Pictures were gone from their place on the mantle and bed stand. Frames laid empty on the kitchen table where they had been left when their contents were stripped from them and shredded in an obvious fit of anger. He'd left the frames and the pile of shredded pictures on the table where they'd been set. They were his reminder of what he'd lost as if the empty bed wasn't enough.

He'd made a mess of everything and he wasn't about to sugarcoat it. Even now he still couldn't say what had happened six months ago. There had been so much going on then. Seaview had been at the Bremerton Shipyards for a refit and the installation of a new state of the art reactor. They were all under stress. Shipyard personal were messing with some of Seview's delicate systems that weren't to be upgraded. Personal from Naval Reactors were trying to alter certain specifications on Seaview that couldn't be altered if she was to maintain the structural integrity that allowed her to go below the crush depth of normal submarines. They worked more then they slept and while Lee stayed exclusively with Seaview while he commuted back and forth between NIMR and Bremerton. He had to keep the Institute running and the experiments they were doing on schedule.

Tender moments and whispered words of love turned to nights alone and arguments. So many of the weekends they had planned to be alone together had been cancelled for one reason or another. Edith had tried to intervene and help them find a way back to the love they shared, but in the times of stress her efforts were greeted with harsh words from him until she left, too angry to talk to him. It hadn't been long after Edith's departure that things came to a head between him and Lee.

Without her to buffer their anger they once again argued about another weekend that had to be cancelled due to Harry having to go back to NIMR or maybe it was trouble that arose at the shipyard. He didn't remember. They argued about the time Harry spent at the Institute and how he drove the crew too hard when he was there. The more they argued the harsher the words became until things were said that they couldn't take back and in the silence of the night regretted having said in the first place.

Before he had a chance to apologise and try to straighten things out with Lee, he'd been called to Washington for yet another conference with Naval Reactors. When he came home, he'd gone straight to Bremerton instead of NIMR. He needed to try and talk to Lee but his lover had said to got back to the Institute and stay away from him. He did just that, thinking Lee would cool down, and they could talk but when he got back from Santa Barbara in a couple days. When he got to the penthouse, however, he found Lee had moved out while he was in Washington. Harry realized in the moment that working things out with Lee might not be possible.

He'd stayed away, just as Lee had asked. What else could he do? Lee didn't want to see him. He understood that. And is he was honest with himself the very thought of seeing Lee and hearing his voice made the pain of the break-up even more acute.

Seaview had returned a month ago and he still hadn't been to see his favourite lady. Lee was there. And even if he planned his visit to coincide with Lee being off duty he didn't want to take the risk of Lee coming back. Nor was he sure how the crew would react to his presence, after all he'd practically deserted them while they were doing the refit.

Downing his first Drink, Harry poured a second and headed for his favourite worn leather chair by the full length windows and stared out at the night sky and the institute lights below. He wished he knew how to make it all right again for him, for Lee and for Seaview. There was nothing he wanted more than to be able to go "home" to Seaview and for them to operate like the family they had once been. Something he didn't even know if it was possible anymore.

Pondering what he'd done to his life, he never heard the door open or the footsteps across the marble floor in the foyer until he heard a voice telling him, "Harry we need to talk."

The end.


End file.
